I’ll be leaving for Iceland on Tuesday morning where I have the honor and pleasure of teaching in a Level 1 Kundalini Yoga teacher training course there, as well as teaching a Naad Yoga workshop and presenting a concert. Plus I hope to soak in hot springs, take in Reykjavik, visit the countryside a bit (hopefully!), and maybe ride an Icelandic horse (very furry this time of year). I’ve been anticipating this trip with great enthusiasm for months and months, studying about Icelandic culture and history, watching the news, getting a feel for what it might be like, imagining myself being there, and, perhaps most importantly, imagining myself TEACHING there and meditating about what might be most important to convey. As is my specialty, I will be focusing primarily on sound and mantra. That being said, how the teaching comes forth is unique each time I teach depending on the moment, the students, the culture, and the result of ‘tuning in’ using Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo before we teach. As we say ‘Ong Namo and away we go!’
You might imagine my excitement when I received the email from Gudrun/Darshan Kaur inviting me to teach. I immediately sent emails to her from three different email accounts to make absolutely certain she got my reply! A little overboard, perhaps, but I didn’t want this opportunity to slip me by. This connection began about 5 or 6 years ago, when a lovely Icelandic woman named Audur/Siri Avtar Kaur came to study at the KRI teacher training here in New Mexico. She was introduced to Kundalini Yoga through Gurmukh’s yoga dvd. Darshan Kaur and another Icelandic woman came to New Mexico the year following Audur’s visit to also go through the training. Audur and I have remained in contact and I have been longing to visit Iceland all this time. In fact, I was planning to visit in early 2009 but broke my ankle and was unable to go. Darshan Kaur emailed me when a teacher was unable to come and she was looking for a replacement. I believe Deva Kaur from Florida suggested I come. Also, the lead trainer, Shiv Charan Singh, knows me and my work.
In preparation for my trip, I’ve tried my hand (tongue?) at learning a little tiny bit of Icelandic learning a few words here and there that aren’t particularly useful but are fascinating to look at and attempt to pronounce. My first, as some of you know, was ‘kakkalakin’ or ‘cockroach’. I’ve been informed by my host that there aren’t many — maybe no – cockroaches in Iceland. But it’s a fun word nonetheless. Darshan Kaur also taught me the word for awesome which is ‘meiriháttar’. I say ‘awesome’ alot. Per Darshan, ei is pronounced like a in alien, á is pron. ou like in outsch! and tt is pron. as if there was an h in front of it, and a is pron. like a in afternoon.
Now I’m going through my final preparations to go. Making sure I prep the material I’m teaching, have the materials and tools that I need, and pack enough but not too much (I tend to overpack). I have my camera and I’ll bring a computer so, by God’s Grace, I’ll blog a bit.
For fun, here’s my bio in Icelandic… 
Dev Suroop Kaur er fjölhæfur tónlistarmaður og hefur gefið út fjölda geisladiska sem njóta vinsælda í kundalini-heiminum. Hún kennir Kundalini jóga og Naad yoga (jóga sem byggir á hljóði). Dev Suroop Kaur notfærir sér list hljóðsins til að ná fram heilun og umbreytingu. Hennar sérsvið eru að kenna kennurum Kundalini jóga og meðvituð samskipti auk þess að kenna öðrum að nálgast fegurðina og kraftinn sem býr í röddinni.
Dev Suroop Kaur kynntist Kundalini jóga árið 1983 og hitti kennara sinn, Yogi Bhajan, meistara í Kundalini jóga, stuttu síðar. Þá hófst langt og ríkt ferðalag andlegrar iðkunar, náms og vaxtar. Hún býr með manni sínum í Espanola, New Mexico og starfar við tónlist og sem framkvæmdastjóri.
Biggest blessings!
